History
Formation and feuds with Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho (2023–2024)
On the May 10, 2023 episode of Dynamite , during a steel cage match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, Callis turned on Omega, stabbing him with a screwdriver which allowed Moxley to get the win. At Double or Nothing, Callis allied himself with Konosuke Takeshita, after he delivered a jumping knee strike to Omega. [1] In June 2023, Will Ospreay joined The Don Callis Family. At Grand Slam, Callis recruited Sammy Guevara to his family, after he turned on Chris Jericho. [2]
On October 1 at WrestleDream, the Don Callis Family defeated, Omega, Jericho, and Kota Ibushi. [3] In the same month, Powerhouse Hobbs and Kyle Fletcher joined the Don Callis Family. On the December 28, 2023 episode of Dynamite, Guevara returned and crashed The Don Callis Family's Boxing Week Celebration. Callis got Guevara a custom portrait with his new baby and his family, but Guevara turned on Callis and the family attacked Guevara until Jericho made the save. [4] [5] On December 15 at Final Battle, Fletcher won a Survival of the Fittest to win the vacant ROH World Television Championship, thus making it his first ever singles championship. [6] At Worlds End on December 30, Takeshita and Hobbs teamed with Ricky Starks and Big Bill in a losing effort to Jericho, Guevera, Sting, and Darby Allin. [7] On the February 7, 2024 episode of Dynamite, Takeshita defeated Jericho, ending their feud and avenging his previous loss to him in DDT. [8]
Expansion, championship reigns, and pursuits (2024–present)
On the May 29, 2024 episode of Dynamite, Trent Beretta joined the Don Callis Family. [9] At Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)'s event Viernes Espectacular, Fletcher lost his ROH World Television Championship to Atlantis Jr., ending his reign at 196 days. On the July 3 episode of Dynamite, Ospreay left the Don Callis Family. [10] On the July 5 episode of Rampage , Rush joined the Don Callis Family. [11] On the October 8 episode of Dynamite, Callis acquired Lance Archer from Jake Roberts in exchange for Rush, who reformed his old faction La Facción Ingobernable at Grand Slam on September 28. On October 12 at WrestleDream, Takeshita defeated Ospreay and Ricochet in a three-way match to win the International Championship for the first time and his first championship in AEW after Fletcher interfered and turned on Ospreay. [12] On the October 16 episode of Dynamite, Brian Cage joined the Don Callis Family, where he formed a tag team with Archer called the Murder Machines. [13] On the November 6 episode of Dynamite, it was revealed that Hobbs left the Don Callis Family by teaming with Ricochet to defeat Fletcher and Takeshita.
On the February 5, 2025 episode of Dynamite, Callis revealed Mark Davis as the newest member of the Don Callis Family. [14] On the April 16 episode of Dynamite, Callis recruited the debuting Josh Alexander into the Don Callis Family. [15] On March 9 at Revolution, Takeshita lost the title to Kenny Omega, ending his reign at 148 days. [16] On the April 17 episode of Collision, Rocky Romero turned heel after betraying Tomohiro Ishii in a tag match and participated in attacking Ishii with a returning Beretta and the rest of the Don Callis Family, joining the group and reuniting Roppongi Vice. [17] On the June 4 episode of Collision, Hechicero teamed with the newly formed Protoshita (Fletcher and Takeshita) to defeat Bandido and The Outrunners. [18] [19] On June 10, Hechicero confirmed that he was now a member of the Don Callis Family. [20] On the June 11 episode of Dynamite, Kazuchika Okada aligned with Callis during his feud with Kenny Omega and was officially introduced as the newest member on the June 21 episode of Collision . [21] [22] [23] At Supercard of Honor on July 11, Takeshita failed to defeat Bandido for the ROH World Championship. [24] At All In: Texas on July 12, Okada defeated Omega to become the inaugural AEW Unified Champion while also retaining the AEW Continental Championship and winning the AEW International Championship. [25] From July 19 till August 17, Takeshita participated in G1 Climax 35, where he advanced out of the B Block with a 6–3 record, [26] defeated David Finlay in the playoffs, [27] Zack Sabre Jr. in the semifinals, [28] and then Evil in the final, making him the first contracted AEW and DDT wrestler to win the G1 tournament. [29] On the July 31 episode of Collision, Fletcher defeated Dustin Rhodes in a Chicago Street Fight to win the AEW TNT Championship. [30] At Forbidden Door on August 24, Fletcher retained the AEW TNT Championship against Hiromu Takahashi while Okada defeated Swerve Strickland to retain the AEW Unified Championship; [31] after the match between Okada and Swerve, Wardlow returned from a year-long hiatus, where he attacked both Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana and subsequently joined The Don Callis Family. [32] At All Out on September 20, Okada retained the AEW Continental Championship in a three-way match against Máscara Dorada and fellow Don Callis Family member Takeshita. Around this time. tensions began to rise between Okada and Takeshita. [33] On October 1 at the sixth anniversary episode of Dynamite, Andrade El Idolo and El Clon joined the Don Callis Family after Andrade attacked Omega and El Clon assisted Fletcher in retaining the AEW TNT Championship over Orange Cassidy respectively. [34] On October 3, Andrade defeated DMT Azul to win The Crash Heavyweight Championship. [35] On October 7 at Dynamite: Title Tuesday, Okada and Takeshita defeated Brodido to earn an AEW World Tag Team Championship match at WrestleDream. [36] On October 11 at Collision: Homecoming, Mark Davis made his return after being out for six months due to injury. [37] On October 13 at NJPW's King of Pro-Wrestling, Takeshita defeated Zack Sabre Jr. to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. [38] On October 16, it was reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Andrade was taken off television after WWE sent a cease-and-desist letter to AEW that claimed that his AEW return violated a non-compete clause that took effect upon his termination. [39] At WrestleDream on October 18, Fletcher defeated Mark Briscoe to retain the AEW TNT Championship, [40] while Takeshita and Okada failed to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship from Brodido after Okada attacked Takeshita mid-match. [41] At Full Gear on November 22, Okada, Takeshita and Hechicero failed to win the CMLL World Trios Championship from El Sky Team (Místico, Máscara Dorada and Neón); and Fletcher lost the AEW TNT Championship in a No Disqualification match to Mark Briscoe, ending his reign at 114 days. [42] [43] On November 29, Andrade was quietly removed as a Don Callis Family member after he revealed that he had never signed a contract with AEW, leaving his status with the company unknown. [44] After Full Gear, Fletcher, Okada, and Takeshita were all participants in the 2025 Continental Classic, where they were all able to advance to the playoff stage at Worlds End on December 27. [45] At Worlds End, Okada elimianted Takeshita while Fletcher was eliminated by Jon Moxley. In the championship final, Okada was defeated by Moxley, ending his record-setting reign as Continental Champion at 647 days and was also forced to vacate the Unified Championship, ending that reign at 168 days. [46] [47] AEW later retroactivley made the title inactive, with Okada being the title's only champion. [48]
On the January 7, 2026 episode of Dynamite , it was announced that Jake Doyle had signed with AEW and joined the Don Callis Family after attacking JetSpeed (Kevin Knight and "Speedball" Mike Bailey) off-screen. [49] Later in the same episode, Andrade El Ídolo officially returned to AEW for a third time, and became the first person to rejoin the Don Callis Family in the stable's history. [50]
